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Blog: Talents cannot be cherry-picked

Digital consultant Astrid Haug blogs about social media. This time about recruitment and talent development that are undergoing change.

Recruitment and talent development are undergoing change.

Both have become cheaper and more effective thanks to digital developments.

Meanwhile, it has also made the competition to attract talent even tougher.

The first step is to view recruitment and talent development as a task that goes beyond the HR department and which everyone is part of.

Recruitment doesn’t only happen in the HR department

Companies often have a clear conception of recruitment as something that belongs in HR. But for potential new employees, this is not the case.

Everything that the company and its employees do, say and communicate affects chances to recruit. And everything that isn’t done constitutes a wasted opportunity to strengthen your brand and thereby your attractiveness.

This becomes obvious when we move onto social media. Here, job postings, media coverage, reports, the actions of senior management and employee reviews all contribute to shaping potential employees’ overall perception of how attractive the company is.

Naturally, social media can be used to look for the right candidates, but it should equally be used as a strategic tool for showcasing the company and the working environment. This allows you to create a story about a company that is attractive to work for, so candidates will find their way to you.

A strong brand offline as well as online is a sure way to attract talent. Therefore, what employees say as they walk out the revolving doors matters. If yours is a bigger company, you can find employee reviews at glassdoor.com. This is the HR equivalent to Trustpilot. Here, people write about their experiences as employees at a given company.

Recruitment comes before the job posting

Recruitment on social media is not simply a matter of writing an ad and posting it.

Employer branding lets you showcase your company’s employees and culture. With employer advocacy, you can equip selected employees to communicate about their working life on social media - this could be with a common hashtag on Instagram or by sharing professional insights and articles on LinkedIn. Employees shouldn’t simply sing the company’s praises. Rather, they should talk about something they really care about in relation to their job or career.

That being said, with an original and carefully thought out job post, you’ll go a long way. Many people read and share job listings without necessarily being interested in the job. Put at least as much effort into them as you do into your advertising campaigns.

Talent is something you create

According to PWC’s CXO Survey 2016, the biggest concern among 60 per cent of Danish SMEs is a lack of access to talent. Funnily enough, only 26 per cent plan to invest in recruitment, talent development and retention this year.

What’s more, talent is very much something that you as a company can help create. Set up your own trainee programme in which you upskill new and existing employees - use existing talents as teachers. Or set up your own version of Google’s 20 per cent rule, in which all employees are encouraged to spend a fifth of their time on something they believe can improve Google in the long run.

This helps spread out the talent concept so it isn’t reserved for a special development department, and it indicates that everyone in the company is allowed to be innovative.

ASTRID HAUG is a digital consultant at astridhaug.dk and author of the book The Manager’s GPS for Social Media. On Twitter: @astridhaug

Everything that the company and its employees do, say and communicate affects chances to recruit.